The technology of the disclosure relates to a fiber optic terminal, and more particularly to a fiber optic terminal having a housing that is removably mountable to a cable tray, beneath a sub-floor, or to a wall to provide a zero-U installation in a data center or a central office.
Benefits of optical fiber use include extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation. Because of these advantages, optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of applications, including but not limited to broadband voice, video, and data transmission. Fiber optic networks employing optical fiber are being developed and used to deliver voice, video, and data transmissions to subscribers over both private and public networks. These fiber optic networks often include separated connection points at which it is necessary to link optical fibers in order to provide “live fiber” from one connection point to another connection point. In this regard, fiber optic equipment may be located in data centers or central offices to support such interconnections.
The fiber optic equipment is typically included in housings that are mounted in equipment racks. Fiber optic cables, particularly fiber optic cables containing multiple optical fibers, route to and between the equipment racks to allow for such interconnections to the equipment mounted in the particular equipment rack. The fiber optic cables may route to and between the equipment racks in cable trays or raceways mounted overhead or in a sub-floor beneath a raised floor of the data center or central office.
However, available space in a data center or central office for equipment racks may be limited and/or very expensive. Therefore, a common problem in telecommunications systems with respect to data center and central office designs and layouts, is space management. Designing the data center and central office so as to position the necessary fiber optic equipment and/or components in a way to maximize the use of equipment rack space, while, at the same time, limiting the quantity of equipment racks is desired.